Plate-type heat exchangers formed from stamped or pressed sheets or plates of metal have been provided heretofore. The sheets or plates may have corrugations or undulating patterns.
In such an arrangement, the plates are formed into plate pairs and the plate pairs are assembled into a stack of plates.
The corrugations are arranged so that the two media to flow in heat exchange are passed generally in cross flow through respective passages in indirect heat-exchanging relationship across walls formed by the corrugated plates.
In such systems, the corrugations in the transverse direction can form tube-like passages whereas the corrugations in the longitudinal direction form undulating flow passages or gaps for another medium.
A disadvantage with conventional systems of this type is that the length of the respective flow path cannot be established for a given area of the plate and number of plates, the system is not readily adaptable for a variety of heat exchange requirements, and the heat exchanger as a whole cannot be set to accommodate a wide range of operating conditions. In particular it is difficult to control the throughput of the working media.
In general a plate-type heat exchanger is intended to effect indirect heat exchange across a wall of sheet material between two fluid media, e.g. a gas and a liquid, although both media may be gaseous or liquid as desired.